Best Beignets in the Big Easy

This quaint café in the French quarter boasts the best beignets around. Don't forget to pair your sugary treat with a strong mug of coffee. Find more diners and dives from Off the Eaten Path.

Show Transcript

[MUSIC] I'm Morgan Murphy, I have traveled 10,000 miles this summer to find the very best food in the South. Come along with me as I show you the South's best restaurants, Off The Eaten Path. I'm Morgan Murphy, your watching Off The Eaten Path, and today we're in one of my favorite cities, the Big Easy, NOLA, aka New Orleans. Now, a lot of people, it's morning here. A lot of people don't ever see morning in New Orleans. Maybe they hang out on Bourbon Street. But we're on Royal Street, and if you like two New Orleans classics, beignets and cafe au lait, you've gotta come check out my friend Peter Moss' Cafe Beignet. It is an New Orleans institution. It's a little hidden, it's tucked away. It's nice and quiet here, and they serve the best beignets and cafe au lait in town. Let's go check em out. [MUSIC] Now it may look like we're not in a restaurant, and we're not. We're in Peter's antique store. Royal Street is the heart of antiquing in New Orleans and right across the street is Cafe Beignet. Kelly, how'd you get in the, the beignet business? Well, it was sort of a local eyesore bar across the street that the city folks were whistling at our customers from the South that were shopping for chandeliers. So my grandmother about 20 years ago said, we've gotta get that location and do something. People go across the street I guess and grab a beignet and then walk around. Well a lot times, husbands are a little bored shopping with their wives for jewelry, so they just walk over and get an order of beignets. It's sort of an interesting juxtaposition. All these formal shops on this great street, and then little dives and little diners, and Bourbon Street's just a block away. So, there's always beer and oysters and beignets when you're not shopping. So what, what exactly is a beignet for people who don't know? Beignet is a typical New Orleans donut. It came from France originally. It's a square donut with no hole. And it's yeast and flour and it rises and you powder put powdered sugar on top. And it's great to eat. And you're gonna be shocked. It's, it's, It's fried. Yeah. My favorite thing. Something simple and fried. Do we have anything on this road trip that's isn't fried? No. Everything in New Orleans is either fried, sauteed and sometimes put a little crab meat on top. Can't go wrong with that. Yeah. So you're gonna give us that beignet recipe. Absolutely. That is awesome. You gonna have that recipe. So you can try it, first you gotta come here and try it, then you can make it at home. Gotta have it with cafe au lait, too, that's a new one. That's another one. Tell me about chicory in coffee here. Chicory is a, a, an, from the endive root, and it's mixed with the coffee so that it, it cuts the bitter edge of a European roast coffee. We like our coffee strong. Yeah. The chicory helps tone down the acidic part of it. Coffee here will put some hair on your face. But you need that if you've been on Bourbon Street all night. Absolutely. It's a good way to wake up with that hot cafe au lait. Let's go grab some. Okay, great. [MUSIC] There's nothing like a big fried beignet after a night out on Bourbon Street. I'm Morgan Murphey. You've been watching Off the Eaten Path. [SOUND] Cafe au lait. [MUSIC]

[MUSIC] I'm Morgan Murphy, I have traveled 10,000 miles this summer to find the very best food in the South. Come along with me as I show you the South's best restaurants, Off The Eaten Path. I'm Morgan Murphy, your watching Off The Eaten Path, and today we're in one of my favorite cities, the Big Easy, NOLA, aka New Orleans. Now, a lot of people, it's morning here. A lot of people don't ever see morning in New Orleans. Maybe they hang out on Bourbon Street. But we're on Royal Street, and if you like two New Orleans classics, beignets and cafe au lait, you've gotta come check out my friend Peter Moss' Cafe Beignet. It is an New Orleans institution. It's a little hidden, it's tucked away. It's nice and quiet here, and they serve the best beignets and cafe au lait in town. Let's go check em out. [MUSIC] Now it may look like we're not in a restaurant, and we're not. We're in Peter's antique store. Royal Street is the heart of antiquing in New Orleans and right across the street is Cafe Beignet. Kelly, how'd you get in the, the beignet business? Well, it was sort of a local eyesore bar across the street that the city folks were whistling at our customers from the South that were shopping for chandeliers. So my grandmother about 20 years ago said, we've gotta get that location and do something. People go across the street I guess and grab a beignet and then walk around. Well a lot times, husbands are a little bored shopping with their wives for jewelry, so they just walk over and get an order of beignets. It's sort of an interesting juxtaposition. All these formal shops on this great street, and then little dives and little diners, and Bourbon Street's just a block away. So, there's always beer and oysters and beignets when you're not shopping. So what, what exactly is a beignet for people who don't know? Beignet is a typical New Orleans donut. It came from France originally. It's a square donut with no hole. And it's yeast and flour and it rises and you powder put powdered sugar on top. And it's great to eat. And you're gonna be shocked. It's, it's, It's fried. Yeah. My favorite thing. Something simple and fried. Do we have anything on this road trip that's isn't fried? No. Everything in New Orleans is either fried, sauteed and sometimes put a little crab meat on top. Can't go wrong with that. Yeah. So you're gonna give us that beignet recipe. Absolutely. That is awesome. You gonna have that recipe. So you can try it, first you gotta come here and try it, then you can make it at home. Gotta have it with cafe au lait, too, that's a new one. That's another one. Tell me about chicory in coffee here. Chicory is a, a, an, from the endive root, and it's mixed with the coffee so that it, it cuts the bitter edge of a European roast coffee. We like our coffee strong. Yeah. The chicory helps tone down the acidic part of it. Coffee here will put some hair on your face. But you need that if you've been on Bourbon Street all night. Absolutely. It's a good way to wake up with that hot cafe au lait. Let's go grab some. Okay, great. [MUSIC] There's nothing like a big fried beignet after a night out on Bourbon Street. I'm Morgan Murphey. You've been watching Off the Eaten Path. [SOUND] Cafe au lait. [MUSIC]